IDF officer dismissed over Gaza shooting

IDF Southern Command chief Maj-Gen Yoav Galant dismissed on Monday a Givati company commander over the accidental shooting of a Palestinian teenage girl during an operation in the northern Gaza Strip last month.

Soldiers mistook the girl for a terrorist and opened fire on her when she walked towards a cluster of homes in which a handful of wanted terror suspects were hiding.

According an investigation, Givati commanders failed to inform the soldiers that the girl had been sent by the army to warn the suspects that if they failed to surrender, the structures would be demolished on their heads.

The girl was seriously injured and was airlifted to Israel for treatment. She was reunited with her family in Gaza after her recovery.

The probe faulted the company commander over his failure to give his soldiers clear open-fire instructions.

The probe also found that the girl's mother had initially agreed to relay the army's message to the terrorists but sent her daughter instead.

"The incident is serious and contradicts the spirit of the IDF. The main failures include the immoral decision to send the woman inside the structure," army investigators said.